501 x 2

[tc4b]

I accidentally won two symetrix 501's on ebay. See, I was getting impatient and bid on a bunch at once. I'll be putting one of them back up after I compare them head to head. As long as they sound the same, I guess I'll sell the prettier of the two. Any other info about which ones might be more desirable, a certain model#, year, set of serial #'s, something like that?

I have my bass running through my sansamp and also direct, I guess I could use a 501 on the sansamp signal and the other on the direct signal, but if I was going to spend $300 (almost) on bass compression in the first place, I would've just gotten a 160!

 

[kojdogg]

if i recall correctly, the "toggle switch" version sounds better and is the more highly prized one. i'm not quite sure why.

 

[pohaku]

Allegedly the older unit with the metal toggle power switch is supposed to have different VCAs and sound better than the newer ones with the plastic push button power switches. I've only ever heard the toggle switch model (which is the one I have) so I can't give you a first person comparison. That said, the toggle switch unit is great for bass compression - which is what I use mine for.

And just to make it more confusing, here's a few quotes from an old (2003) RAP thread on the units:

"The first grayface has a toggle switch for power and used Valley VCA's
The second had a push button for powerand dbx VCA's. "

"Ahhhh, but there were two pushbutton versions. One was square and one
was round. The most recent one (round or square?) had a DBX VCA. Other
one (second to most recent?) had a Valley People VCA, but it was different
to the Valley People VCA in the toggel switch model. I compared the
two and the earlier toggle switch one was better, to my ears."

" And if I'm not mistaken each of these different versions were all
available with a custom ordered transformer balanced input so now we
have double the possibilites for the different on/off switch/button
and VCA versions... "

 

[kojdogg]

nice-- bigups pohky!